Worksheet

One Block, Three Branches: A Walk Through the 1790s Capital

Grade 8 civics: walk a described map of 1790s Philadelphia, where a veto, a court ruling and a state law show federalism and checks and balances.

Grade 8Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toCIV.8.1

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Single worksheet
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1 C3 Framework standard
Printable answer key
11 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 8
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use a described map to locate where each branch and level of government met in the 1790s.
Students explain how real events of the 1790s show checks and balances and federalism.

How to use

Have students sketch the block from paragraph 1 before reading the stops, then answer on their own and compare sketches.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

CIV.8.1

Explain federalism, separation of powers and checks and balances, using examples of how the three branches limit each other.

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One Block, Three Branches: A Walk Through the 1790s Capital

Follow a described map of Philadelphia and find federalism and checks and balances along the way.

Walk the route

Read the route card. You may sketch the map from paragraph 1 in the margin. Then answer the questions.

Route Card: The Capital Block, 1790–1800

1From 1790 to 1800, Philadelphia was the capital of the United States. On this route card’s map, Market Street runs east–west, and Chestnut Street runs beside it one block to the south. Fifth and Sixth Streets run north–south, with Fifth Street to the east. The route starts at the President’s House, on the south side of Market Street at Sixth Street. Three buildings stand in a row on the south side of Chestnut Street: Congress Hall at the Sixth Street corner, the State House in the middle and Old City Hall at the Fifth Street corner. Behind them, to the south, lies the walled State House Yard.

2Stop 1, the President’s House. George Washington lived and worked here from 1790 to 1797. In April 1792 he used the first presidential veto, rejecting a bill that divided seats in the House of Representatives among the states, because he judged that it broke the Constitution’s rules. A Pennsylvania law of 1780 had begun to end slavery in the state, and it let enslaved people brought into the state by visitors claim freedom after six months. Washington held enslaved people in this house, and his household sent them out of Pennsylvania before six months passed.

3Walk one block along Sixth Street to Stop 2, Congress Hall. The House met on the first floor and the Senate upstairs. Here the House voted on Washington’s veto. Here, too, Congress passed a 1792 law letting the President call out state militias to enforce national laws, but only after a federal judge certified that the courts and marshals could not enforce them alone.

4Walk east to Stop 3, the State House, where the Constitution was written in 1787. In the 1790s Pennsylvania’s own legislature met here, making laws for the state while Congress met next door.

5Continue east to Stop 4, Old City Hall. The Supreme Court met here from 1791 to 1800. In Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), a South Carolina man sued the state of Georgia over a debt, and the Court ruled that a citizen of one state could sue another state in federal court. Many states were alarmed. Congress proposed the Eleventh Amendment, and by 1795 the states had ratified it, so federal courts could no longer hear such suits.

6In August 1794, Justice James Wilson certified that farmers in western Pennsylvania were blocking the collection of a national tax on whiskey. Washington then called up about 13,000 militia from four states, and the protest ended without a battle.

Use paragraphs 1 and 3. Which way does the route go from the President’s House to Congress Hall?

A. North one block on Sixth Street
B. South one block on Sixth Street
C. West along Chestnut Street past Sixth
D. East along Market Street to Fifth

A visitor stands at the State House door facing north toward Chestnut Street. Which building is on her right?

A. The President’s House
B. The State House Yard
C. Old City Hall
D. Congress Hall

Draw a line from each building to the part of government that met or worked there in the 1790s.

President’s House
Congress Hall
State House
Old City Hall

A. The Pennsylvania legislature
B. The national executive branch
C. The national legislative branch
D. The national judicial branch

Sort each event. Does it mainly show federalism (the nation and the states sharing power), or one branch checking another?

A South Carolina man sues the state of Georgia in a national courtA federal judge must certify before the President calls out militiaPennsylvania lawmakers pass laws for their own stateThe House votes on whether to override a vetoMilitia from four states enforce a national taxThe President rejects a bill passed by Congress

Federalism	One branch checking another

Use paragraph 2. What does Pennsylvania’s 1780 law show about federalism?

A. The law stopped at the edge of the national capital.
B. A state’s own laws applied inside the national capital.
C. Congress wrote the laws on slavery for Philadelphia.
D. The President could set aside a state law by veto.

Circle the sentence in paragraph 3 that shows how the judicial branch could limit the President.

Walk one block along Sixth Street to Stop 2, Congress Hall.The House met on the first floor and the Senate upstairs.Here the House voted on Washington’s veto.Here, too, Congress passed a 1792 law letting the President call out state militias to enforce national laws, but only after a federal judge certified that the courts and marshals could not enforce them alone.

Count the votes

Use the vote table and the route card.

Votes Taken on the Capital Block, 1792–1794
Date	Vote	Yes	No	Needed to pass
April 1792	House: override the veto	28	33	Two-thirds
February 1793	Court: Chisholm may sue Georgia	4	1	Majority
January 1794	Senate: propose 11th Amendment	23	2	Two-thirds
March 1794	House: propose 11th Amendment	81	9	Two-thirds

What does the April 1792 vote show?

A. The Supreme Court overruled the President’s veto.
B. The Senate alone decided whether the veto would stand.
C. The veto was overridden by a narrow two-thirds vote.
D. The veto stood; not even a majority voted to override.

Which statement best describes what happened after Chisholm v. Georgia?

A. Congress and the states amended the Constitution to undo the ruling.
B. Georgia left the Union until the ruling was changed.
C. The Court struck down the Eleventh Amendment.
D. The President vetoed the Court’s ruling in 1793.

Suppose that in 1796 people in a Maryland county blocked the collection of a national tax. Under the 1792 law, what had to happen before the President could call out militia?

A. A federal judge had to certify the courts could not enforce it.
B. The Senate had to approve it by a two-thirds vote.
C. The Supreme Court had to hold a full trial first.
D. The Maryland legislature had to vote to approve it.

10.

Use paragraph 5 and the vote table. Write the number. Find the years by subtracting 1791 from 1800.

The Supreme Court met at Old City Hall for years, and justices voted in Chisholm v. Georgia.

11.

Did the events on this one block show that the Constitution kept any one branch or level of government from gaining too much power? Make a claim, use at least two events from the route card or the vote table as evidence, and explain your reasoning.